Cynicism at Sony

Ed Felten has a great post on the cynical logic of digital rights management as it played out in the Sony spyware case. It’s worth reading in full, but I can’t do better than to quote his damning conclusion:

Running through this whole convoluted tale are two consistent threads. DRM is used as a weapon not against infringers but against market rivals. And when companies use DRM to undermine compatibility, law-abiding customers lose.